As an increasing number of applications and services are being made available over networks such as the Internet, an increasing number of content, application, and/or service providers are turning to technologies that provide access to electronic resources through services, such as Web services. A user or customer typically will rent, lease, or otherwise pay for access to resources implemented by third parties, i.e. “in the cloud,” and thus does not have to purchase and maintain the hardware and/or software to provide access to these resources.
Customers typically need to register an account with an entity that governs these resources in order to obtain access to the resources “in the cloud.” Customers who prefer to be anonymous or who prefer not to create an account are forced to identify themselves and provide various personal information including billing information. Requiring the customer to enter his or her billing information may subject the customer to charges from resource usage that the customer has no control over. There is a need for convenient ways of accessing computing resources, software, and information provided to customers as a utility over a network.